Tuesday, October 05, 2010

French Grammar Question

Does anyone know what the "-t-" in this sentence is supposed to indicate?

Depuis combien de temps chante-t-elle dans cette chorale?

It seems to me that it makes sense just as
Depuis combien de temps chante elle dans cette chorale?

but I assume the -t- adds something. Any idea?

Thanks.

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Update: Apparently, it's just inserted to make the sentence sound better. I found this on the Word Reference forums.

"(T)he -t-il /-t-elle form (question or inverted ) is called a euphonic T , used as a kind of liaison (analogical liaison) because of the phonetical hiatus caused by two vowels....."

which I'd have with the trailing e of the verb (I'm thinking that's key, here) Chante and the starting e of the next word, Elle.

There's also a Wiki reference (of course!)

Interesting.

8 comments:

STAG said...

Ahhhh...

Unknown said...

Hard "t", I think.

Long time since I did French. And I only took the class because the teacher was cute, and hot. :-D

Cerulean Bill said...

Best reason I know of to take the language....

Karen said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Karen said...

Let me try that again - accidental delete. I second the "hard t." A really common example would be "comment s'appelle-t-elle," - the t just makes it possible to actually say ithe phrase after a few drinks.

Cerulean Bill said...

A noble goal, and one which humanizes the French in my eyes!

genderist said...

That question made my head turn inside out. I've not thought about that in a long, long time! :)

Cerulean Bill said...

You still know way more French than me, G. But I'm enjoying learning this stuff. I like Rosetta Stone, but clearly -- to me, anyway -- it'd be a better product if they offered a grammar supplement.